Curriculum, Learning and Effective Pedagogy: A Literature Review in Science Education
This is a detailed literature review from New Zealand on effective pedagogy for science in primary and secondary schools. Summaries of findings are clearly given for students, teachers, teacher educators and policy makers. The authors show how task design and different groupings impact on learning and the need for pupils and teachers to be clear about the purposes of the tasks. Learners who are enabled to think about and work with their ideas become better learners of science and have a positive
Key Stage 3 Art – Contemporary Art
This Teachers TV video looks at the delivery of a unit of work from a media and visual arts Faculty at Wellings Specialist Arts Secondary School in Kent and analyses the reasons for using the work of contemporary artists as a starting point. The unit consists of a photography project during the course, during which the students look in some detail at the work of a contemporary photographer (Cindy Sherman) and then explore elements of photography through their own designing and making of a photog
Count Us In
The 37 page report defines the field of inclusion. It then goes on to describe the legislative and social background to inclusion. Characteristics of effective inclusive schools are identified, indicators of outcomes are described, and seven key messages present the findings of the report.
The report combines formal text with case study materials and quotes from the schools studied.
The report aims to build understanding of inclusion and to identify best practice in schools on the subject of inc
School effectiveness and equity: making connections
This report is a literature review by CFBT of published studies on school effectiveness research (SER) and school improvement research that have ‘contributed to our understanding of school performance and the main implications for school improvement’ (p.6)
Providing learning opportunities for trainees
The resource is an informative and activities based workbook, to support school-based trainers in providing appropriate learning opportunities for trainees. This is a collation of materials used at training managers’ workshops to aid their understanding of how to improve initial teacher training (ITT) provision, which has been developed from the outcomes of a range of evidence, including small scale research conducted by the University of Birmingham for the TDA.
Mathematics: understanding the score
The Ofsted report ‘Mathematics: understanding the score' was published on 19th September, spearing news headlines which emphasise one of the findings, that too much mathematics is "taught to the test". The report is drawn from evidence garnered chiefly during inspections between April 2005 and December 2007 from 192 schools. This evidence, as the report clearly states, played a part in the findings of the Primary Review of Mathematics, published last Summer.
Safer Children in a Digital World: the report of the Byron Review
The Byron Review (under the Chairmanship of Dr. Tanya Byron) is an independent review supported by officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The review carried out an assessment of the internet and video games, and informs children, adults and policy makers how they might affect young people. The report describes how the evidence was collected, what it revealed, the effectiveness of existing measures, and includes recommenda
Reframing Literacy: A United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) conference about moving image medi
The UKLA conference was held at the British Film Institute (BFI) on 13th and 14th November 2008 and attended by teachers, teacher educators and representatives from the local authority and the film industry. The conference proposed that ‘media literacy’ be recognised and taught within the wider context of literacy rather than as a separate subject and offered three perspectives:
• Leading learning in moving image media education – aimed at local authority literacy advisors
• Developi
Poetry Archive
Poetry Archive is an on line resource which will be invaluable to English teachers across all phases. The poetry on the site would delight the very young, with poems by the like of Spike Milligan and Roald Dahl, as well as students, teachers and language enthusiasts, and is easily signposted and navigated. Poems appear from young contemporary poets (such as Andrew Fusek Peters) to historical figures such as Browning, meaning that there is something for everyone. It provides not only poems in wri
TDA Standards case study: Exemplifying QTS standard Q17
A case study charting the experiences of a trainee on a secondary PGCE programme in geography, including the ways in which the provider tailored provision to develop the trainee’s understanding of the use of ICT to support teaching and learning.
Enhancing the communication learning environment of an early years unit
This research paper, presented at BERA 2001, reports on an action research project in which a group of teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants worked with an Open University consultant, Melanie Nind, to improve the language and communication provision in an early years unit. The project took an inclusive approach, rather than starting with a deficit model, through which the learning environment was enriched for all children. The development and evaluation of changes was guided by the co
NALDIC ITTSEAL: Making Maths curriculum more accessible: Strategies for children learning EAL
There are certain activities especially those relating to vocabulary associated with abstract concepts (e.g. problem solving) that some pupils learning EAL find challenging. We also know that all children develop their mathematical skills more when involved in inclusive collaborative activities, especially those that invite active participation. The key aim in this short guidance is to explore the role of children’s first languages in developing their understanding of abstract mathematical con
The Impact of Research on Policy
This is a publication from the British Educational Research Association (BERA) compiled by scholars based in three universities working within the education research sector, with a particular focus on Early Childhood studies. It assesses the impact of significant and contemporary education research on government policy.
TDA Standards case study: Out of school learning
A case study charting the experiences of trainees on a primary PGCE programme, including the ways in which the provider tailored provision to give trainees the opportunity to explore how out-of-school contexts could enhance their understanding of education in wider and more diverse settings.
TDA Standards Case Study: Use of Non-School Settings
A case study charting the experiences of a trainee on a primary (early years) undergraduate programme, including the ways in which the provider tailored provision to support the trainee in developing understanding of the complexities of leading and managing change.
Leading Sustainable Schools
The research document produced for NCSL looks into sustainability in schools, how these schools are being lead in a successful sustainable manner and the barriers that can prevent success. This document attempts to consider the issue of leadership for sustainability within the context of the wide spread changes in the English education system including buildings and grounds, curriculum and assessment, the relationship between schools and their local communities, the merging of education and chi
Assessing Quality in Applied and Practice-based Educational Research
This ‘Framework for Discussion’ originated from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project whose remit was to examine in a critical and informed fashion the different definitions of and approaches to applied and practice-based research. The authors seek to clarify the concepts and models currently employed in order to enable a review of recent governmental and other initiatives which recognise the value of applied and practice based research. The primary motivation is to a
Sci-tutors: Physical Processes - Light and Sound
This article on the Sci-tutors website explores some of the more important conceptual barriers to understanding about 'light', including light as a form of energy, seeing, shadows and reflections, sources of light, refraction and dispersion (colour).
Sci-tutors: Physical Processes: Electricity and Magnetism
This article covers basic aspects of electricity including conductors, insulators and magnetic materials, electrical circuits and energy. Electrical calculations are included (for secondary). Emphasis is given to barriers to understanding and to alternative conceptions, and some useful models for current flow and energy transfer in an electrical circuit are explored.
Sci-tutors: Materials and their properties: Changing Materials
This Sci-tutors unit builds upon the particle ideas explored in Materials Unit 1. It explores the categorisation of change into ‘chemical' and ‘physical' as well as the conceptual barriers to an understanding of chemical change.
